Statement on Historical Monument

The statue at the corner of Main Street and College Avenue in Salem was erected on the Roanoke County Courthouse lawn in 1910. It was placed in honor of those who served in the Civil War, and it was funded by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, Southern Cross Chapter 746.   
 
The 28-foot granite statue is of a private in the Confederate Army, and it represents all men from Roanoke County who fought. The soldier faces south (homeward) with his rifle at rest position. The words inscribed on the statue read “In memory of Confederate soldiers of Roanoke County 1861-1865. Love Makes Memory Eternal.” 
  
In 1987, Roanoke College purchased the former Roanoke County Courthouse, but a judge directed the county to retain ownership and ongoing responsibility for maintenance of the monument. A contract amendment between the county and the college was subsequently agreed upon which resulted in the county retaining ownership of the land and the monument on it.  
 
In September 2023, the Roanoke College Board of Trustees approved a resolution by the Task Force on College History to place a sign near the statue to contextualize the monument and address questions of ownership.  
 
In October 2024, Roanoke College erected a sign on its property next to the Confederate monument that reads: “This Confederate monument will always capture a deep sense of loss. Not just the loss of deceased Confederate soldiers, but also the loss of lives of enslaved people, free people of color, and other individuals who rejected the causes of Confederate secession, and whose stories are excluded from this shared public space. Roanoke County sold the courthouse building and surrounding land to Roanoke College in 1987, but retains ownership of the Confederate monument and the land underneath it. Roanoke County’s monument connects us to a past that will not be part of our future. This is not our monument.”  
 
Roanoke College’s Center for Studying the Structures of Race provides thoughtful, creative and innovative responses to the problems of race in local, national and international contexts.  
  
Updated October 14, 2024.